


Never assume legends are true

by Silent_Wolf



Series: Inaccurate legends [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Butterfly-Chasing, Fighting, Phobias, The Dragonborn doesn't automatically have full control of his powers, Tree Climbing, ingredient-hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 13:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3531020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_Wolf/pseuds/Silent_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In her many travels and adventures with the Dragonborn, Lydia learns a great deal about many things. Not only about her Thane, but about other people, Skyrim, herself, and, of course, that you can't always trust legends. No matter how much you want to sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

> Warning(s): Unbeta'd, probably full of grammatical mistakes and sentence fails. (I did both read, and re-read it, (and improved it from the version on FF) but there's usually something that manages to stay behind anyway. So please forgive and notify me if you notices any. Oh, and I'm relatively new to writing fic, so please forgive any other mistakes and/or general horridness. Thank you.
> 
> Author's Note: This is sort of a sequel to my previous story: The meeting, but it's not necessary to read it to understand this one.
> 
> Reviews are greatly appreciated, constructive criticism even more so.
> 
> Flames will be used to grill marshmallows.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing except from the story itself, which is, again, only a fidget of my imagination.

* * *

 

She didn't like him.

 

And it wasn't at all because he wasn't the strong, hardy Nord with beautiful blue eyes as she had originally imagined. No, it was because he was a skinny Imperial who apparently seemed to find  _everything_  and  _everyone_  interesting and fully worthy of his time, no matter how important their current quest was.

And sure, while it was nice to find that he wasn't the kind of person who thought himself above others, and therefore interacted with all kinds of people… Lydia was finding it a  _tiny_  bit annoying when he found everything else interesting too.  _Especially_  when he seemed to find it more important to chase  _butterflies_ , than actually complete his current quest. Namely, to kill the giant at some giant camp she never could remember the name of.

 

If she hadn't had it on good authority (rather, if Jarl Balgruuf the Greater hadn't confirmed so himself) that the Imperial was in fact, the Dragonborn, she truly doubted she would have believed it. Especially since he did things like tripping over his own feet and landing face-first in muddy puddles. like he did just now.

 

Correction: he was a skinny  _clumsy_  Imperial.

 

She sighed. "My Thane, don't you think it would be smart to continue on our way now?" Lydia questioned as she went to drag the squirming Imperial out of the mud. "You know, preferably before nightfall?"

She knew it was hopeless to try, really, especially as he got the incredulous look on his face. She could almost hear him whining already…

" _Lydia_ …"

And there it was, the whining.

 

"Seriously, how many times do I have to say it? Don't call me that." He sounded almost frustrated. "My name is Maximus. I have it for a reason.  _Use_  it."

Maximus. A typical Imperial name. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most common one, more like a name they would give someone a few centuries ago. but it was definitively Imperial.

 

Imperial.

She almost didn't want to think about it.

She wasn't a racist by any means, even if many in her family had been (Imperials weren't really all that popular in Skyrim these days). at least, Lydia didn't think she was. Her bitterness towards her Imperial Thane stemmed more from disappointment over the fact that the fabled Dragonborn she was sworn to protect and serve wasn't, in fact, a Nord. And, of course, that she was sworn to carry his burdens when he made a habit of collecting super-heavy  _dragon bones_. Not to mention all the other junk he found and insisted to keep.

 

"And besides, it's a beautiful day, barely a cloud in the sky. it'll be a moonlit night. Won't be a problem to see anything."

Lydia had heard him use this particular response half a dozen times before already. And even if he was usually right, it didn't mean she was particularly fond of being stumbling around awake at night when she could be blissfully asleep instead.

 

" _And_ , I need butterfly wings for the healing potion I'm making." He said, holding out a muddy satchel presumably full of potion ingredients. "It's not like the giant is going anywhere anyway." He pointed out logically as he unsuccessfully tried to wipe his muddy face and armor clean. "You could help me, y'know. The faster I get those wings, the faster we'll be on our way." He said the last bit a tad hopefully.

The look she gave him was quick to shoot those hopes down. "Maximus. I'm  _not_  going to chase butterflies with you. Under  _any_ circumstances.  _Ever._ "

 

Even if Lydia hadn't known the Dragonborn for very long, (only a few weeks or so) one of the first things she had learned about him was that he was decidedly different from other people she knew. like for example how he often went hunting for potion ingredients in the wilderness, instead of doing so in shops like normal people. And as a result to that, Lydia could often find herself picking flowers like a little girl, (once, even next to a little girl) looking through an horrifyingly high amount of barrels and running from and/or slaughtering gruesomely many bees, bears, sabre cats and other creatures whose bodies had parts that could be used as potion ingredients.

In short, she'd had enough of it. At  _least_ for the remainder of the day. Therefore, she stood her ground and demanded that they either continued on with their mission, (Killed the giant) or took a dinner break (because she was kind of hungry) and  _then_ continued on with their mission. So after a bit of arguing, an accidental shout which had Lydia staggering several feet backwards, and more arguing because the Dragonborn obviously hadn't learned to control his new powers yet, they finally sat down against a particularly large tree to have some dinner.

 

It was, of course, then they realized not one of them had brought any food with them.

 

"What do you mean you didn't bring any food! I'm definitively sure I can remember telling you to go and buy some before we left Falkreath." Lydia exclaimed once she realized that both of their packs had a distinct lack of food.

Lydia had actually told the Imperial to bring food, (with the exception of mammoth steak, since she wasn't particularly fond of it) but Maximus, as she soon would find out, had a tendency to make horrible decisions.

 

"Yes I can remember that, but I didn't really think we would need it." He answered with a shrug.

Lydia deadpanned. "You didn't think we would need  _food_?! What are you, half cow? Do you eat grass?!  _Why_  would we  _not_  need food?!" She felt a stab of annoyance, because of course  _she_  would get the honor of being housecarl to the one Thane who utterly lacked common sense.

She briefly wondered if she had somehow offended some higher deity and therefore had been cursed with unending bad luck.

At least her Thane had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry," he said, clearly embarrassed. "It's just that I've never actually needed to buy food before going out to travel. Usually I've just lived off whatever game I could hunt and the occasional bandit camp."

The look of disbelief and shook on her face immediately sent him chuckling.

"You  _can't_  be serious."

"I'll have you know that I'm always serious," he said mockingly. "Deadly serious."

Lydia punched him in the arm.

 

After Maximus had stopped rubbing his hurting arm, Lydia asked him what he planned for them to eat then, since it was his fault they didn't have a bellyful of mead and cooked beef already. They sat in silence for a few minutes while he thought this over.

"Well," He started, obviously having thought of something. Lydia wondered why she suddenly had a bad feeling about it. "I have a few satchels full of potion ingredients. And if I remember correctly I should have a few sabre cat eyes and a daedra heart or two. Maybe even a giant's toe..." He said this as he dug around his pack in search for one of the mentioned satchels.

 

"That's...  _gross_. I don't understand how you can even consider to eat stuff like that." She shuddered. "It's disgusting."

 

He only rolled his eyes as though is should be obvious. "I'm a self-learn alchemist, Lydia. The easiest way to learn one of an ingredients properties is to eat it." He shrugged. "Sure, a few ingredients are downright  _disgusting_  to eat, but it's easier to learn thing that way than to try to randomly mix it with something and  _hope_ you mixed it with something compatible."

 

Then:

 

"Snowberries?"

Lydia accepted grudgingly.

 

 

...

 

 

Several days, two giant camps, multiple butterfly chases, and three fights later, they  _finally_  arrived at the correct giant camp.

 

Only, of course, to find out that someone else had killed the giant some Jarl (Lydia couldn't be bothered to remember which) had wanted dead. Lydia blamed it all on the  _stupid_  butterfly chases, and as a result, proceeded to let her Thane carry his super-heavy dragon bones back to Whiterun himself.


	2. Mudcrab

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, unbeta'd and written in one go, so please watch out for mistakes, grammatical errors, and general horridness.
> 
> Author's Note: I realize this is way late, and I kind of promised myself that I would get out a chapter a month at the latest. And as I usually try to keep my promises, here it is. New chapter! (Even if I'm not satisfied with this one whatsoever...)
> 
> Reviews of all kind is nice! Except flames. Those will be used to grill marshmallows, and maybe sausages if there's enough of them.
> 
> R&R people!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing except the fic itself (and my character), which is only a fidget of my imagination put on paper.
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

 

 

Lydia hadn't necessarily lived for a very long time, at least not in the eyes of her elders, but in her lifespan she had seen a lot of things easily ranging from seriously horrifying to utterly hilarious.

 

This, Lydia decided, was definitively ranging pretty high on the latter scale. Even though she had more than a sneaking suspicion her Thane might just disagree.

 

Her Thane in question, Maximus, was currently sitting on a branch high up a tree, practically hugging the life out of said tree as if his life depended on it. A tree which he had scrambled up almost unnaturally fast at the sight of a small  _mudcrab_.

Lydia could barely manage to stay on her feet, she was laughing so hard.

 

The Imperial didn't exactly make the situation any easier for her, yelling at her to  _'kill it!'_  while at the same time squeezing his eyes shut and clinging to the tree a bit harder every time. His ancient-looking bow lay forgotten on the forest floor along with about half of his steel arrows, only a few feet from the mudcrab that seemed to torment him so.

Lydia had to wonder what kind of reaction she would get out of him if she found an adult mudcrab when he reacted so strongly to the little one. Her Thane however, interrupted the train of thought before it could escalate much further.

 

"Lydia! For Kynareth's sake, kill the  _damn_  mudcrab!" He yelled at her yet again as the small mudcrab snapped after him menacingly. She wasn't worried however, since it wasn't like it would ever be able to reach him, as he easily sat twice an Altmer's length above ground.

 

A very tall Altmer, that is.

 

Lydia figured her obvious amusement at the situation made him annoyed, or maybe he was just getting tired of being stuck up in the tree for so long, she couldn't tell, but she found the next words out of his mouth very threatening nonetheless.

"Lydia, I swear, if you don't kill that filthy mudcrab  _right now_  I'm going to introduce you to every single man I meet for the next three months!"

Lydia frowned at this. So her Thane had learned a thing or two about her too in this (Oh so very long) weeks they had known each other. She had to wonder when, exactly, he had noticed her reluctance to interact with others, men in particular. But she guessed it didn't matter too much. What mattered, was that he now he had decided to use it against her.

 

Bastard.

 

"As you wish, my Thane." Lydia said with a sigh.

After she had found out the truth about him back when they first had met, she had to admit she was a bit horrified her Thane turned out to be Imperial. After all, Imperials were mostly known for being shrewd diplomats and traders, and having silver tongues, not for their prowess in battle like Nords.

Besides, the guy was supposed to be  _Dragonborn,_ the strong and fearless ultimate dragonslayer. He was supposed to kill dragons, not negotiate a truce with them like Imperials seemed to do with their legitimate threats nowadays.

And he most definitively  _shouldn't_ be afraid of  _mudcrabs,_ of all things.

 

So without stalling any longer, (she wanted to get home before dusk after all) she made quick work of the small mudcrab. Then she started on the task of cleaning her blade of its blood, all the while she glanced upwards from time to time to see if her Thane had plans of open his eyes and start on  _his_  task of getting down to earth in the nearest future now that the 'threat' was gone.

 

He did.

 

But not before he had her drag the remains of the mudcrab out of sight.

 

"So," She started once the Imperial had managed to get his feet planted firmly on the ground once again. "What exactly was all that fuss about?"

Lydia tried to keep her tone neutral, but it was clear that she wanted an answer, and that not getting one was far from acceptable.

"What fuss?"

His answer however, was short and closed off, clearly either straight-out ignoring or somehow not noticing her demanding tone. He also sounded more than a bit disgruntled, but Lydia figured that was mostly because he had been sitting in a tree for the better part of an hour. But she still wouldn't accept that answer, disgruntled Imperial or no.

"The  _fuss_  you made about the mudcrab. Honestly, I've seen you take down sabre cats and snow trolls without _too_  much trouble. So  _why_  the fuss about a small, hardly dangerous, mudcrab?" She knew she sounded incredulous, but honestly she really found the idea of the Dragonborn of legend being afraid of mudcrabs a bit too hard to believe.

"Lydia…" His tone and eyes was somehow masterfully balanced between warning and pleading, so Lydia decided that she would drop the issue for now. It didn't seem like he would spill his guts at the moment anyway. But she  _definitively_  would get back to it some other time. Maybe she just needed to get him drunk first.

She quietly contemplated this while they walked, only subconsciously registering that her thane had stared up a conversation with a wandering Khajiit in hooded monk robes.

 

…

 

Several hours later when they _finally,_ to Lydia's utter relief, found themselves back in Whiterun, she made a point of dragging her Thane with her to The Bannered Mare in an attempt to fulfill her plan in getting him drunk.

 

Only to find out that to her utter shock and frustration, the Imperial didn't drink. Ever. Period.

Except from Surilie Brothers Wine on special occasions, because 'it reminded him of his homeland'. Not that Hulda currently sold that anyway.

 

Lydia groaned.

 

Then, to her despair, that bard Mikael she saw around here sometimes tried to hit on her. At least, she thought, he bought her a drink. Because Lydia figured she was going to need it to survive the night.


End file.
